What to do when your cat seems unsatisfied?

Hi!

We're new to this forum (Finnish), and couldn't find any references to my question. I would like to hear about your experiences with cats, as our Vilma seems odd these days.

Vilma is a blue scottish fold (very pretty), and our first cat. We were very fortunate to find her, and she's been with us for a year and a half. She is almost three years old now (birthday November 1) and has settled in nicely. We don't exhibit her; she is a lovely indoor cat and a beloved pet to us.

Now she's started to feem nervous, tip-toeing around all the time, being very hard to please. She wants to be cuddled but quickly pulls away once you start petting her. She's had problems with dry skin, but we managed to clear that. Now she's just meowing all night long and moving about when not sleeping.

Her fur is exquisite, and doesn't show any signs of a health problem. We would still like to know what to do to make her more comfortable. We spayed her when she came to us and that helped her a lot back then. Now she's acting like she was when in heat again, and we can't figure it out. Seems weird to take a healthy cat to the vet and start digging for something wrong with her.

What experiences do you have on this kind of behaviour? We also have a dog, and they play nicely together, but maybe Vilma needs more attention? What do you guys think?

Annika

sorry dont have any answers for you but I'm sure someone here will (all very knowledgable) just wanted to say I just love them scottish folds - so cute.
good luck, but im sure its nothing too serious.

Right now I have more questions than anwsers for you. Has anything changed? (and I mean ANYTHING). Has her routine been disrupted in any way? Food change, Litter change, work schedule, outside cats coming to the window, furniture placement, new person in the house or someone missing from the house......well you get the idea. Things like these can cause a cat to feel insecure. Has she had any vomitting, diarrhea, not eating, drinking a lot.......or other medical changes? Has she been on medication for any reason?
It is true, she might just want more attention, and you could start there, but do not discount your intuition. YOU know her best.

Hi all,

And thanks for your replys. Jen, you were a super help to me! Your questions cleared lots up for me - it's winter again in Finland. About a month back, when Vilma started acting up at nights, we had to close our balcony door completely; it got too cold to keep it open. In the summer Vilma loves to kick back on the chairs and table in our balcony and spends all day and all night there except when she comes in to fulfill her needs.

Another point is, that we actually did change her food from Science Diet Hairball Control to SD Indoor cat. She's not fond of us for doing that, so we'll be switching back once the bag is empty.

We really love our Vilma, she's such a sweetheart. Even the vet thought so the last time we went, she really lets you do anything. With moderation, of course - she dislikes taking pills and pastes of all kinds. But we love her to bits anyway!

Thanks for helping me figure it out - I know now what to do!

This is an awesome site, and I hope to introduce Vilma soon with pics as well in the Newbie section.
Annika

I sometimes wish that cats can just talk to us sometimes. They change and you need to become the detective to figure it what is happending with them. All behavioral changes need to be acknowledged, and once you rule out any environmental changes that can trigger stress, you have to assume a medical problem.

I'm glad you zeroed in on something for your baby!

cats are creatures of habit. if anything has changed in any way, they may react to it negatively. if you changed her food, did you do it gradually over a period of a week? or did you just switch it? have you always closed the balcony off when the weather changes? that might be a contributing factor as well. she wants to go out there and cant, and from the way you described it, she seems restless.

I agree, try to play with her a little more, to keep her distracted.

good luck!

Sometimes when they act out, crying and acting off they are actually sick and trying to let us know. Do not discount that although she looks perfectly healthy, she could possibly not feel well. There is nothing wrong with playing it safe and taking her to the vet for an overall check-up. Also ask the vet to check her eyes-especially if she is crying after dark, she could be having problems seeing.

Cats are nocturnal, it is thousands of years of instinct bred into them, they move about at night, as their ancestors did years ago in search of prey. That could also be what is wakening in her now.

Good luck-

It's nice to hear from you all! As I mentioned first, Vilma is our first purrfect friend, and I'm still adjusting. My mom and sister have always been more catpeople, where I always connected well with dogs.

Vilma however has taken a big part of my heart - she's truly the first cat to show me true affection, and having read up on cats I know that it's a big thing. And I love her for it. When she and our puppy came to us, it was I who brought them from another city, about 300 miles away, and being that my mom was uncertain how to care for them she relied on me to do a lot. Vilma got sick after three days with an infection, and consequently I took her to the vet where she got shots and fluids and antibiotics, which I gave her the next 10 days. So Vilma associated everything negative in her life with me (vets, relocation, medicins) and everything fun (food and cuddles) mainly with my mom and sister. Now, a year and a half later, she comes up to me to greet me and occasionally sleeps next to me and purrs when I pet her. It's absolutely marvelous how she can make me feel just by letting me pet her!

The weather change in Finland is something absolutely natural to us humans; we know why we stay indoors at winter and don't sleep on the balcony after September, but of course cat's aren't accustomed to logical thinking. I didn't even think that Vilma might find it awkward (stupid me). Now she's found a new favorite spot in a reclining chair making it impossible for anyone else to sit there.

About the diet change, we did it "by the book" mixing the remainder of her previous food with the new kind, and she still finds some of the yummy bits to this day. Once this bag is finished we're going back to the hairball control formula, which she absolutely loves. We just thought she might benefit from less fat in her food, but obviously it's not worth it; she still weighs less than 10 pounds and doesn't carry any excess weight on her.

My concerns with her are related to her breed, scottish fold. I've become nervous about her possible ailments; we don't know of any other scottish folds in Finland, and the vets aren't familiar with her breed either. I've tried to find as much info on her as possible, but there's not much out there. I hope to hear from anyone with experience on scottish folds and what signs to look for. Vilma is such a sweetheart that we do see rapidly when she needs help, and she's really healthy, in all this time she's been sick twice, and even then she comes to us looking for help. It's the faulty gene that worries me, and what it might cause; maybe something we can't identify. But for now she's happy with attention and loves to have conversations, long ones, with all of us. It's remarkable how different she is now that she's comfortable with us and relaxed wherever she is. Even in the bread basket!

Can you post a pic

Päivää Annika and Vilma! Welcome to The Cat Site!

As Sicy mentioned, we would love to see a picture of Vilma! I don't have much info on Scottish Folds but I found this website:http://www.scottishfold.org/sfhealth.html


I hope everything works out for you and Vilma.

Hi

One of the best resources I've found is at catsinternational.org

They've seen it all

Good luck!

Beth

I have to say I'm with Hissy on the it never hurts to have a check up done. By nature cats try not to show signs of illness. So while she may not be showing what we think of as signs of illness something may be off, and the sooner you identify a problem the better. I know nothing of problems with specific breeds I've always just had Domestic, short or long haired cats with no pedigree. I have only one more suggestion. Is it possible she is bored? I've been reading a book lately that brings up keeping a cat stimulated. Perhaps you can get some new toys, or if she is missing looking outside can you get a window perch for her so that she can see all the things she did during the summer?

Hi everybody - thanks so much again for your help. I'm sorry it took so long for me to post a pic here, but I had trouble getting it scanned and posted somewhere where I could directlink it. I'll post a presentation on the NCOTB forum as well.

You'll all be happy to know that everything is purrfect again with our love! The winter truly took me by surprise, or more so, Vilma's reaction to it. Now she's got plenty of toys and attention and is thriving again. So much so, she's sleeping in our bread basket again!

Annika

OMG - she is so precious - what a sweety. Glad things are back to normal - we as humans feels so helpless when our kitties don't feel right.

Now since you have shown us one picture we expect many more of her and of course stories - LOTS of stories!!!!

A bunch of people have given great advice about thinking of any changes. Another thought that struck me (literally as I was petting my cat!) is that if your house is dry,yoru cat may be getting static "shocks". It is bad at our house right now with all this subzero weather. Is she eating fine, drinking about normal, eliminating about normal? Breathing OK?
If there is any big question in your mind, she should be seen by your vet.
Deb E